Early voting a clear success for citizens

Early voting is so strong in North Carolina that state election officials are urging county officials to find ways to ease the crunch. That is great news for democracy.

The United States historically has had lower voter turnouts than many other free nations. One reason is that we have not made it easy to vote. We would allow voting only during a 12-hour period on a workday. People who were shut-ins or would be out of town on Election Day could cast an absentee ballot, but otherwise they had to show up at the polls during that 12-hour window.

Early voting has changed that equation. In North Carolina, early voting began Oct. 18, and it has taken as long as two hours to vote at some locations. More than 600,000 people had voted as of Monday, and the early voting total is expected to exceed 2 million by Nov. 3, the last day it is allowed.

In Buncombe County, more than 6,500 people voted on the first day alone. High turnouts also were reported for the four western counties covered by the Waynesville-based Smoky Mountain News.

Gary Bartlett, executive director of the state elections office, suggested that county election boards should extend voting times and add weekend days. Also they could redistribute their voting booths and pass out sample ballots to voters waiting in line.

There have been attempts to cut back on early voting days and hours in places. We feel that would be a huge mistake.

Early results this year seem to bear out that contention.

"We are outperforming our early-vote margins in key states compared to 2008," said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. "We're ahead of where we were against McCain, and more importantly, we're ahead of Mitt Romney."

Andy Miller, Western North Carolina field director for the Democratic Party, says high turnout usually favors Democrats.

But that is immaterial. Every voter should be given as much opportunity as possible to cast a vote, no matter who benefits from that vote. We've come a long way from the days when only white male property owners could vote on a single day, and we do not need to backslide.

Conventional wisdom has it that Al Gore would have won the presidency in 2000 had all the voters in Florida been counted. That is not necessarily true. Many of the uncounted votes were cast by service members on duty overseas. Presumably, most of those votes would have been for George Bush. Thus Bush might have carried the state even if all the votes had been counted.

But we'll never know, because all the votes were not counted. And that was what made the handling of Florida's elections by both sides, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling cutting off the count, not only wrong but tragic.

This time around, there should be no vote left behind. You can help ease Election Day pressures by casting your ballot early. Your local elections office can tell you the location of the nearest early-voting site in your county.

Before you vote, obtain a sample ballot and read it, marking your selections, so you will need less time in the booth and thus allow the early-voting site to handle more people.

Voting is one of your most precious rights. People have given their lives to secure that right. Over the years the franchise has been expanded, and now early voting is making it easier for many people.

Vote. It is not only your right but your duty.

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Early voting a clear success for citizens

Early voting is so strong in North Carolina that state election officials are urging county officials to find ways to ease the crunch. That is great news for democracy.